YUKI MATSUI

• Position(s): Left-handed pitcher
• Bats / Throws: Left / Left
• 2024 opening day age: 29
• Height / Weight: 5-foot-8 / 165 pounds
• How acquired: Signed as a free agent in December 2023
• Contract status: Will make $5.5 million in the second year of a five-year, $28 million deal; the agreement includes an opt-out after the third year ($14.5 million) if Matsui has not had a significant elbow injury and it could be worth as much as $33.6 million over five seasons if Matsui becomes the Padres’ closer.
• fWAR in 2024: 0.3
• Key 2024 stats: 4-2, 3.73 ERA, 0 saves, 9 holds, 69 strikeouts, 27 walks, 1.17 WHIP, .204 opponent average, 62 ⅔ innings (64 games)

 

STAT TO NOTE

• .203 — Matsui’s expected batting average in 2024, which ranked in the top-10 percent of the majors. Matsui held opposing hitters to a .204/.284/.381 batting line in his first year in the majors, but that success was negated by walking 3.9 batters per nine innings.

 

TRENDING

• Idle — A five-time All-Star who piled up 236 saves in a decade in Japan, Matsui understood he’d have to earn his spot in the back of a big-league bullpen upon signing with the Padres. Yes, Josh Hader had departed, but Robert Suarez was first in line in a competition — at least as it was laid out at the start of spring training — that included former Korean closer Woo-Suk Go. While Go never pitched for the Padres before he was traded away, Suarez took the closing job and ran with it, leaving Matsui to cut his teeth in the majors in a set-up role. Matsui posted a 2.45 ERA in April and a 3.48 mark in May before that number shot up to 4.91 ERA in June. The rough spot (essentially 6 ER over one-third of an inning over two appearances) was sandwiched between scoreless streaks of 7⅓ innings and 12 innings. Matsui’s hit rate in Japan (6.0 per nine) was comparable to what it was in the majors (6.6), as was his walk rate (4.0 per 9 to 3.9 per 9). Hitters weren’t even hitting Matsui hard (see stat to note) and the splits were rather even (.673 OPS against lefties vs. .659), but the stuff certainly didn’t play as well in the United States as the diminutive Matsui’s strikeout rate fell from 12.0 per nine innings to 9.9. Matsui lowered his ERA from 3.79 in the first half to 3.63 after the All-Star break. But he also threw only 17⅓ innings after A.J. Preller added Tanner Scott and Jason Adam to the victory formation, appeared in only five games in September and pitched in just one postseason game, throwing a scoreless inning in a blowout loss to the Dodgers in Game 4 of the NLDS.

 

2025 OUTLOOK

• Matsui didn’t fall out of favor down the stretch as much as the bullpen was simply boosted for a postseason push. One of those pieces (Scott), however, has left as a free agent and Suarez could opt out after this season, meaning Matsui still has an opportunity to push himself into save opportunities in San Diego (he was 0-for-4 as a rookie). Either way, Matsui is projected to be the second highest-paid asset in the Padres’ bullpen behind Suarez ($10 million) and will be expected to step into a more significant role in his second year in the majors.

 

 

Roster rankings

• 21. RHP Sean Reynolds
• 22. C Luis Campusano
• 23. RHP Alek Jacob
• 24. OF Tirso Ornelas
• 25. RHP Ryan Bergert
• 26. RHP Henry Baez
• 27. LHP Omar Cruz
• 28. OF Brandon Lockridge
• 29. LHP Tom Cosgrove
• 30. RHP Stephen Kolek
• 31. RHP Juan Nuñez
• 32. C Brett Sullivan
• 33. UT Tyler Wade
• 34. LHP Wandy Peralta